Apparatus for bending axles



Sept. 20, 1932. c c BENNETT r 1,878,665

' APPARATUS FOR BENDING AXLES F lled Oct. 15, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gnucnfo-t Sept. 20, 1932. c, BE NE T 1,878,665

APPARATUS FOR BENDING AXLES Filed Oct. 15, 1930 2 snee's sheet 2 i; (/audeCBennezfz I Patented Sept. 20, 1932 UNITED (STATES Watts lATENT OFFICE CLAUDE C. BENNETT, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOB T,O E. FERAGEN, INC OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTON arrm'rus ron nrmnme Axrns Application filed October 15, 1930. Serial No. 488,855.

My invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for bending axles. It is intended as an attachment to equipment usually employed in garages, and will enable such shops to render wheel aligning service.

My invention has for its principal object In the accompanying drawings, my invention is shown in forms which are now preferred byme. Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device 1n operation.

35 Figure 2 is a front elevation of an automobile front axle and associated parts, with my invention applied thereto.

Figure 3 is a section therethrough, substantially on the line 33 of Figure 2.

a modified arrangement.

Hoists of various types, hydraulic and mechanical, are commonly employed in garages and repair shops for such jobs as draining crankcase oil, and greasing the underbody and chassis. required for the purpose, such shops or stations may engage in wheel alignment operations. except as their space may be limited, -10 and heretofore ithas beennec'essary, because of the bulk of the jacks employed, either to provide means for jacking or lifting up the forward end of a car, or to use a pit, the space occupied by which could not then be .employed for other purposes. This necessi- Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 2 of 7 Since heavy equipment is not tated setting aside a considerable area for the sole purpose of adjusting or bending axles. According to my\present invention, there is provided a means whereby the shop with a hoist may utilize the same hoist and the same space'for axle bending operations, or to provide a means whereby, upon the installation of one piece of equipment, the shop is in position to perform either operation, the bending of axles or the greasing of cars.

- The type of hoist may be any that is found suitable for the purpose. A common type of ,hydraulic hoist comprises a central column or plunger 1 and a platform, consisting of rails 2 which extend longitudinally of the car, and which engagethe car from beneath to lift it as the plunger 1 is raised. For reasons which I will explain, I prefer that the rails 12, which constitute the car supporting platform, be of the type which supports the wheels and tires.

In other words, these rails may take the form ofchannels, as illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, upon which channels the wheels of the car are run, whereby, as the car is lifted its weight is still supported upon the wheels. This en- 7 ables the adjustment and gauging to be done when the car weight is in its natural relationship to the wheels and axles, and it further permits the more eiiective employment of hydraulic jacks 3, to be described in detail hereafter. i

Whether the rails be of the type illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, or of the type illustrated at 2 in Figure 4 and, consisting of longitudinal rails which engage the axle directly,- they are spaced apart ata point beneath the front axle 4 of the car, and there is disposed beneath this axle a strong-back bar 5, which may be made up invarious ways. As shown, it consists of two channel bars, slightly spaced 8; from each other, and placed with their webs adjacent one another (see Figure 3) These channels may be connected together by end plates 6, or by any other suitable means. By spacing these channels, there is left a slot in which may be received rods 7, which are perforated at intervals to receive pins 8, which engage beneath the strong-back bar 5 and support it, when the device is to be employed. The upper ends of the rods 7 are connected to or suspended from the axle 4 by such means as links 9 and pins 10 and .11.

Cooperating with these suspending means are the hydraulic jacks 3, previously mentioned. These may rest upon the strong-back bar," either inside or outside of the rods 7, and when their plungers 12 are projected, they, in cooperation with the pins 10, will exert a bending stress upon the axle 4, which will bend it up or down, as the case may be, depending upon their position outside or inside obstructed, an axle press including a strongback bar disposed beneath the axle, means interengageable between the platform and the strong-back bar to support the axle press from and to raise it with the platform, eleyated substantially in operative relationship to the axle in all elevated positions of the platform.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 10th day of October, 1930. CLAUDE C. BENNETT of these pins. To produce the stresses rev quired to bend axles cold, these jacks must be of good size and strength, and as the strongback bar must-be sufliciently strong to withstand such stresses, these parts would ordinarily be of such size that they could not be slung beneath the axle, but would strike the floor. By the arrangement described the jacksmay be applied without the necessity of employing a pit, or of blocking up the car.

The end plates 6 have been illustrated at 13 in Figure 2 as extended upward, to provide a hook at their upper ends whereby they may .be supported from the rails :2 during such time as the hoist is being lifted. This enables the bar to be positioned on the ground, or in a small pit 14;whe1e it may remain when not in use, ready to be lifted by the hoist as it raises the platform 3, or to be engaged therewith soon after this lifting has started.

The strong-back bar may be raised-slightly when the pins 8 are put in place, so that the hooks 13 are clear of the rails 2, and the strong-back bar 5 is then suspended wholly by the links 9 and rods 7 from the axle. Ac-

' cordingly, all stresses are transmitted to the axle, and the platform 2 need not bear any of this stress. However, the, device will operate satisfactorily if the hooks 13 do remain in engagement with the platform 2. The form shown in Figure 4 differs from that heretofore described only in that the platform rails 2v engage directly beneath the axle of the car, and t e wheels are left clear of any support.

,The hydraulic jacks and associated means I will operate in the manner already described.

What I claim as my invention is: 1. In combination with a hoist including a car-supporting platform which leaves the space beneath the cars front axle largely unobstructed, an axle press including a strongback bar disposed beneath the axle, and hook members secured at each end of the strongback bar to support the bar upon their engagement with the platform, elevated at a predetermined fixed distance from the axle.

2. In combination with a hoist including a car-supporting platform which leaves the space beneath the cars front axle largely un- 

